Not so bad After All
by Anduria Trianys
Summary: Response to 'post-Countrycide Jack/Ianto kiss' challenge. After the incidents with the cannibals, Ianto finds that not everything is always as it seems, including his boss, Captain Jack Harkness. Jack/Ianto, but more friendship than anything else really.


Not so bad After All

**Not so bad After All**

**This was a response to a 'post-Countrycide kiss between Jack and Ianto' challenge on a Torchwood forum. It starts with Jack being a bit snarky, but things do change...**

"You wanted to see me, Sir?" said Ianto cautiously opening the door to the office.

"Sit down, Ianto," Jack's voice was calm, but the command was evident. "Sit down and tell me why you lied earlier."

"Sir?" Ianto was confused.

"Don't pretend you don't understand me," said Jack sternly. "I don't know exactly what you learned at Torchwood One in terms of First Aid and all that, but you should surely know that what happened between us in the basement went a _lot_ further than just being CPR."

Ianto blinked for a second before he burst out laughing. It wasn't an amused laugh though; it was an angry, almost hysterical laugh. "And what about you?" he finally managed to ask.

Now, it was Jack's turn to be confused. "What about me?" he asked.

"Oh, don't pretend you don't understand me _Sir_," spat Ianto, unintentionally mirroring the other man's words. "You made the comment about 'including non-human life-forms', remember? They were your _own words_." With that, he turned away and slammed the door behind him, barely noticing the stabbing pain in his chest.

"Ianto!" shouted Jack, cursing himself mentally and colourfully in as many languages as he could think of while abandoning his paperwork and following the younger man. "Hey!" he shouted, catching his arm and turning him around. "Come here! Look, it wasn't like that!"

"Wasn't it?" asked Ianto. "Then what _was_ it like? I already know I made a mistake –"

"I know," interrupted Jack. "I didn't mean to rub it in and I'm sorry if you thought I was. I just didn't think. I wanted to tease Owen a bit and it just came out." He rested a hand on Ianto's shoulder. "I really am sorry."

Ianto shrugged. "I'll ask you the same question I asked Gwen," he said. "Are you sorry she's dead or sorry that you mentioned it?"  
"Seriously? All of it," answered Jack honestly. "You were right; we do take you for granted, especially Owen. I'll be having some serious words with him about that." He shook himself. "I will admit, I'm not sorry we got rid of the threat that she was posing, but I am sorry she's dead."

"Why? You just said yourself that she was a threat." Ianto was still angry, but tiredness was catching up with him and, for some reason, making him give his boss the chance to explain.

"Because of what losing her did to you," sighed Jack. "I was too angry to see it at the time, but I handled the whole situation terribly. I shouldn't have made it your responsibility to…execute her." He smiled humourlessly. "That's what I'm really sorry for."

Ianto had no idea what made him do it. All he knew was that there were so many conflicting emotions – anger, terror, shock and even a new understanding – racing through him that something just made him do it. He grabbed hold of Jack's braces and drew him into a passionate kiss.

Jack's eyes widened in surprise for a second, but he reacted fast and reciprocated the gesture, only he kissed back very gently; he didn't want to miss a minute of this.

But all too soon it was over as Ianto pulled away, his eyes wide with alarm. "I'm…I'm sorry, sir," he stammered. "I don't know what came over me."

Jack shook his head, all his earlier anger fading away. "Don't apologize," he said gently. "You're a mess at the moment; you're tired, scared and upset. What you need is a hot bath or something and some sleep." He looked around. "I don't have much, but you can stay here if you want, or I can take you home."

Ianto sighed. "I want to go home," he murmured, hating how weak and pathetic he sounded.

"All right, just give me a moment." Jack disappeared into his office, returning a few moments later with a glass of water and some tablets. "I've called for a taxi to pick us up outside the tourist office; I won't subject you to my driving again. In the meantime, take these. Don't worry; they're just painkillers, from the forty-second century. They taste awful," he stopped and fought back a laugh as Ianto gagged. "Yeah, sorry about that; they do taste like they've been soaked in stagnant water, but they're very effective." He rubbed Ianto's back as the younger man coughed. "You okay?"

"Yeah…what's _in_ those things?"

"I don't know, I never asked. To be honest, I wasn't sure I wanted to know."

Outside the tourist office, the taxi driver blinked a bit when he saw Ianto's injuries, but when Jack gave him the address rather brusquely, he backed off and drove. In the back seat, Jack wrapped a protective arm around Ianto and pressed an almost absent-minded kiss to his forehead. Ianto looked up at him, but said nothing.

When they finally arrived, Jack helped him over the threshold and settled him on the sofa while he went off to run him a warm bubble bath.  
"Come on then," he said eventually, "let's get you sorted. Don't worry," he added with a smile, "while I may flirt with anything with a pulse and while comfort sex can be very therapeutic, I'm not going to try and jump you."

"Perhaps you should just jump me; it might make all this easier," said Ianto wryly as he snorted with laughter, but then suddenly burst into tears.

"Hey, hey," said Jack, taking him into his arms again. "What's all this, huh? Look, it's okay; I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't leave me," mumbled Ianto, clearly not having heard a word of what had been said.

"I won't leave you; I'm going to take care of you, just as I should have done from the start." He picked Ianto up, noticing how light he was, and carried him into the bathroom where he gently helped him out of his clothes and lowered him into the warm water, letting Ianto hold him as he cried into his shirt. It was almost unbelievable; after all, it was just over a month since Ianto had promised to watch him suffer and die.

After a while, he pulled back. "Come on," he said, fishing out his white handkerchief and wiping away the tears, before pretending to use it to nip him on the nose.

"I'm not a child, sir," said Ianto, but he couldn't help laughing.

"Sorry," smiled Jack. "I just want you to feel better." His hands rubbed carefully over Ianto's back and shoulders, washing away all the grime and dirt.

Ianto murmured softly. "Just give it a little time, sir," he breathed. "Just give it time."

He let the soothing touch of Jack's fingers relax him and thought to himself that, really, when all was said and done, his boss wasn't all that bad after all.


End file.
